


Changing Tastes

by texadian



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Kagaminette, Marigami, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Unresolved Sexual Tension, bi girls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/texadian/pseuds/texadian
Summary: Marinette seeks advice from her mother when her tastes in...desserts...seem to have changed.Marigami one-shot post-Frozer.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 94





	Changing Tastes

**Author's Note:**

> What is it about this rare-pair that's so intriguing to me!?

It’s after-hours and the lights in the front room of the boulangerie are off. Marinette, Adrien, and Kagami sit around a small table near the register and nibble at the scraps Marinette’s mom had left them when they’d returned.

Kagami and Adrien are still dressed in their fencing uniform, having not gone home to change yet, while Marinette lounges with her jacket strown over the back of the chair.

“You did really well for your first competition,” Adrien says, giving Marinette a thumbs up.

Marinette grabs a bread crumb from their nearly empty central plate and accepts the compliment with a shy smile.

“Adrien is right. You were by far the most impressive novice fencer out there today,” Kagami adds.

Marinette feels a blush rising-up her cheeks from all the praise she’s receiving.

“I did not win, though.” She twists her smile into a pout and tries to hide the pride still resting behind her eyes.

Kagami chortles at the expression.

“Hey!” Marinette scowls. “I’m serious.”

Kagami waves off Marinette’s frustration. When the frown still has not fallen from her face, Kagami places her hand over Marinette’s wrist and waits until she meets her gaze.

“It was your first tournament. I would not be so hard on yourself. It can take time to become more familiar with the mental game, not just the physical.”

Marinette finds herself nodding along at the words, when Adrien pipes up, breaking the silence.

“Yeah. What she said.”

Both girls turn to face him, almost annoyed, before Kagami draws back and goes for the last piece of the fruit pastry. It’s flaky and leaves a trail of baked dough across the table. Kagami scoops the crumbs up with her hands and deposits them onto the plate, before patting her hands against the thick cotton of her pants.

“I can just take this away…” Marinette trails off as she stands quickly and returns the plate to the kitchen.

Her mother is putting dishes away when Marinette approaches. She shoots her daughter a partial grin before the clear distress on Marinette’s face causes her alarm.

“Hey, what’s wrong, hon?” she asks. “—I can take that.”

Sabine lifts the plate from her daughter’s tight hold and slides it into the soapy water beside her.

“Noth—nothing,” Marinette replies.

Sabine quirks her brows up and hums.

“If you say so.”

The bait is out there, and it takes Marinette only seconds to grab on.

“I feel conflicted,” she admits, wringing her hands together.

Sabine grabs a stack of bowls from the counter and steps onto a small stool to put them away.

“You know how you go through years of your life thinking I love croissants?” Marinette asks.

Sabine laughs quietly to herself.

“The thought doesn't usually come to mind most days, but sure, go on.”

“Well,” Marinette continues, “how would you feel if you suddenly realized that you like pain au chocolat. And not only do you like pain au chocolat, but perhaps, you like it more than croissants. And it’s not like croissants aren’t great as well, but pain au chocolat has some of the best parts of a croissant and it also has chocolate.”

Marinette feels winded.

“Well then, I would ask why you can't enjoy both,” Sabine replies questioningly.

Marinette goes pale.

“I can't do that,” she almost yells, before remembering her dad is asleep a few rooms over.

“Oh.”

Sabine purses her lips together before turning to the stove and pulling out a cutting board. Her daughter paces behind her, running her hand along the counter.

“I guess I’m not really making any sense here,” Marinette admits after a few minutes of silence.

Her mother, busy at the stove, shakes her head no.

“But I’m always happy to listen,” she quickly adds, pulling a pot off the burner. “Can you hand me those four mugs?”

Marinette obliges and walks around the counter to retrieve them from the drying rack.

“I guess, if you can’t have both,” Sabine teases, “then you can have one at a time—”

“And what if I’m satisfied with the pain au chocolat?”

Sabine looks down, shaking her head with a smile. She pours the thick, burnt umber liquid into each of the four mugs—lets the final tendrils of silk falling from the pot, swirl in a circle, before turning back to the stove.

“If you are satisfied with your...pain au chocolat, then what’s the problem? I see none.”

She loads three of the mugs onto a tray but stops short before handing it to Marinette.

“One last thing,” Sabine says as she pulls the doors to the fridge open.

Marinette taps her fingers against the counter and studies her mother as she pulls down a small metallic mixing bowl covered in plastic. Sabine moves purposefully over the mugs, dropping dollops of Chantilly cream onto the surface of the drinks.

“I guess that’s why I’m conflicted,” Marinette says. “I never saw myself as liking pain au chocolate as much as I do.”

Sabine walks around the counter which is separating the two of them and pulls Marinette into a tight, but brief hug.

“Tastes change, hon.”

She picks up the tray of drinks then and hands it over to Marinette.

“Let me know if these are too sweet.”

Marinette agrees with a cursory nod.

“Who’s the fourth one for?” Marinette asks before heading towards the stairs.

“Me,” Sabine replies with a smirk.

Kagami and Adrien are hunched over the table in a lively discussion when Marinette re-enters the sitting area. She refuses to let anxiety and doubt bring her down, though.

“My mom made us some hot chocolate,” she says instead, from the doorway.

Kagami leans back in her chair, abandoning her conversation with Adrien, and lights up at the announcement. Marinette notices the excitement and fails to suppress the giddy feeling bubbling in her chest.

“I’ve been wanting to try French hot chocolate since mother and I moved here,” she says.

“Well, that’s what I have,” Marinette sputters.

She glances over at Adrien who looks on eagerly as well. With the coordination and grace she did not know she possessed, Marinette shifts the tray into her left hand and picks up one of the mugs in her other. She’s managed to anticipate the shift in the tray’s center of gravity, so the other two mugs stay upright.

Adrien is looking up towards her, his arms out in anticipation for a loss of balance or a quick catch. Marinette swivels so she’s facing Kagami; Kagami is watching her as well, but her hands remain clasped together in her lap.

With ease, she sets the first mug down in front of Kagami, before handing Adrien one, and finally placing one down for herself. She spins the empty tray in her hands absentmindedly, before setting it on an adjacent table.

“You’re getting better at that,” Adrien comments, but Marinette doesn't turn to meet his gaze.

“Yeah,” she replies out of politeness.

She takes her seat between the two once again and begins to sip her drink. The liquid is rich and warm and definitely not too sweet as her mother had feared.

“Will you be joining us next tournament?” Adrien asks her, setting down his mug.

“I will be looking forward to it,” she replies.

She looks over at Kagami who hasn’t set her mug down since she’d accepted it.

“Was I supposed to drink that slower?” Kagami asks without a hint of embarrassment on her face.

Marinette looks over at the empty mug and laughs.

“Not if you really enjoyed it.”

“I did,” Kagami replies, but she isn't looking down at the mug.

Her eyes flit between Marinette’s hands, which have encircled the warm ceramic surface, and her mouth. She leans forward in her chair, bum rising from its cool wooden surface, and places a steadying hand against the seat of Marinette’s. Their faces are almost close as they’d been when Kagami had helped Marinette off the ice.

“You’ve got some cream,” Kagami begins, dabbing the corner of Marinette’s mouth twice with her thumb.

Marinette’s own hand rises to her face and she rests her fingers over her lips where the cream had just been. Without thought of further consequence, she licks them once over with her tongue, just to make sure they’re clean.

“I—” Kagami withdraws herself and sits back in the chair.

“I think you got it,” Adrien says—a break through the still.

He’s not annoyed in the slightest; in fact, he looks almost too animated.

“She did,” Marinette quickly confirms in a stammer.

The loud screech of her chair legs against the old slatted floor causes the other two teens to jump back in alarm.

“If you’re done with those, I can take them away as well,” she says, not giving Adrien a chance to tell her that his mug isn’t empty, and neither is her own.

In retrieving the third mug, she meets Kagami’s stare and notices her eyes are still wide and blinking more than usual.

“I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

She mentally berates herself for the odd word choice and sneaks away.

When she’s out of earshot, Adrien leans across the table towards Kagami and smirks.

“So much for not hesitating,” he says, knowingly.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if anyone is interested in more Marigami.


End file.
